I. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to vehicle mounted luggage carriers and, in particular, to a construction for a slat which forms the load-bearing surface of the luggage rack.
II. Description of the Prior Art
Longitudinal load-bearing slats have been widely utilized to form the support surface of a vehicle luggage carrier. Generally, these slats are mounted flush with the surface of the vehicle and extend longitudinally to minimize wind resistance. Many of the past known slats are constructed of stainless steel and secured to the vehicle by a series of mounting screws. However, it has been found that the full stainless steel construction can cause damage to luggage and the like from the frictional rubbing between the slat and cargo. In addition, movement of the luggage can cause damage to the slat itself.
In order to overcome this, a rub strip was added to the stainless steel slat to protect the cargo from damage. This rub strip is generally made of a rubber or plastic material and is mounted to the top of the slat. In a known embodiment, the stainless steel slat is formed by a channel member having an elongated opening on its top face. This channel member is secured to the vehicle surface by mounting screws disposed within the channel member. Once mounted, the rub strip is placed within the top opening of the channel member to form the load-bearing surface of the luggage carrier. However, in order to facilitate assembly of the slat, the rub strip has a substantially wedge-shaped cross section which interacts with a downwardly angled extension of the side walls of the channel member to maintain the position of the rub strip in the opening of the channel member. In this position, an upper surface of the rub strip extends above the channel member.
Despite the ease of assembly provided by the wedge-shaped rub strip and the inwardly angled walls of the channel member, the rub strip has a tendency to be pushed down inside the channel member under heavy loads. Thus, when heavier luggage is placed upon the slats, the load can expose the top surface of the stainless steel channel member to the luggage causing damage to both the luggage and the support slat. Moreover, under extreme loads portions of the rub strip may be pushed completely within the channel member requiring removal of the entire strip or specialized tools for removal of the vertically displaced portion.